International Upgrades Bait and Switch

So I tried to book tickets today for a roundtrip flight next June from Philadelphia to Frankfurt. With a completely empty Envoy cabin, it seemed like it would be a slam dunk to book coach seats and use miles and $$ for upgrades. WRONG! Even though that is a Dividend Preferred benefit that US Airways touts, and even though NO SEATS WERE BOOKED, I was told that those upgrades were not available because they had not been released for upgrade by Marketing. So it seems like you can get the upgrades if you are lucky enough to call on just the right day. I have a better chance of winning Powerball.

International Business Class is now 600-700% more expensive than economy travel. For people who have no limits to their spending, it is apparently worth it. However, it is impossible to book upgrade awards on international routes in most cases. Delta is the worst. They have now hidden all their international upgrade information even from travel agents. Moreover, even to qualify for using an upgrade one is required to pay a fare that frequently double the normal business class fare. It is clear that they want to advertise these awards but they don't want to give them out.